Michelle Woo's posts - English uPOST

You might know Chris Ballew as the frontman of ’90s alt-rock band The Presidents of the United States of America. But if you’re under, say, eight, you’re probably most familiar with him as Caspar Babypants, a “kindie-rock” icon who makes family-friendly music about topics like a bubble that doesn’t follow the crowd, a…

In birth month clubs, a modern phenomenon in which pregnant strangers convene in online groups based on the month of their due dates, something always happens. After nearly a year of commiserating through posts about baby name quandaries and clueless partners and weird shit that happens to your body, you’ll start to…

My five-year-old daughter has declared that ketchup is “spicy.” She prefers foods in shades of beige. Her ideal dinner rotation would be something like dino nuggets and peas, cheese pizza and peas, plain udon noodles and peas, tater tots and peas, and ice cream and peas. As a mom who was once a food writer, one who…

A third of today’s teenagers don’t read books for pleasure, reports a survey from the American Psychological Association. That’s nearly triple the number reported in the 1970s. And yet teens are reading—perhaps more than ever before. Glued to screens, they’re voraciously consuming words in the form of texts, photo…

Making paper airplanes isn’t just a great low-tech boredom killer—it’s highly educational, too. Yep, all that time you spent folding spiral notebook paper into cool gliders in 11th grade economics, you were actually getting a lesson in design engineering. Neat, huh?

When you’re expecting a child, you can snag a lot of free stuff from companies that want to make your baby an [insert brand name here] baby. Diapers, wipes, formula, bottles, onesies, and even children’s books. Hey, go with it.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the things. All the people you have to get back to (usually with the sad starter-line “Sorry for the delayed response ...”). All the words you’re supposed to write. All the minutes you promised you’d run on the treadmill, all the meals you said you’d prep, all the closet clutter…

Lifehacker creative producer Heather Hass told me a story about the hermit crab her five-year-old son Theodor got for Christmas last year. His name was Crabber, and he lived for two months. But the news of the crustacean’s passing has yet to reach Theodor. “We told him Crabber was sick and needed to go to the crab…

For new parents, Alexa can be a huge help—it can create a playlist of lullabies or place an order for more boogie wipes or let you hear what’s happening in the nursery. But the voice assistant hasn’t always been so great at following social cues. Say you’ve finally gotten your infant to sleep and you very quietly ask…

If your kid is feeling anxious about something—perhaps a test or a sick relative or an upcoming shot—guided imagery can help. It’s a technique that uses mental visualizations to give one more control and a greater sense of peace.

As parents, we’re told that we’re our kids’ first teachers. It’s true, but to me, this conjures up the idea that we must stand over their shoulders with a red pen, telling them they exactly what to learn, and how. To better support their natural inquisitiveness, it can help to instead think of yourself as a librarian.

Here’s what Kristina Kuzmic knows: Perfection is boring. Parenthood is messy. We might as well embrace the chaos. In her funny and compassionate videos, the vlogging star—who has over 2 million Facebook fans—slams the notion that moms and dads should be loving every minute of raising kids. She gets real, addressing…

Half of house fires happen between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., a time in which most of us would not be conscious enough to know something’s going on. This is terrifying, but there’s an easy thing you can do to help you survive: Close your bedroom door before you go to bed.

When your brain is warped, the easy thing to do is zone out on social media, checking to see what Chrissy Teigen had for dinner last night or finding out which unpopular Halloween candy you are. You tell yourself, “I need this.” Sure, fine. But know that you’re not really recharging.